The Chinko River (or Shinko River) is a river of the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. It is a right tributary of the Mbomou River.

Environment

The upper reaches of the Chinko river define the border between the

Haute-Kotto Haute-Kotto is one of the 16 prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, ...

and Haut-Mbomou prefectures. For most of its length it flows in a SSW direction through

Mbomou :''Mbomou'' can also refer to the Mbomou River. Mbomou is one of the sixteen prefectures of the Central African Republic. It covers an area of and has a population of 132,740 (according to a 2003 census), giving a population density of only 2.2 ...

prefecture to its convergence with the Mbomou River. The Mbomou plateau has an elevation of , slightly inclined to the south, on the Asande rise between the

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme ...

depression to the north and the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

to the south. The Chinko Nature Reserve is a protected area in the Chinko River basin. It covers . It is managed by the nonprofit conservation organization

African Parks African Parks is a non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on conservation, established in 2000 and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was founded as the African Parks Management and Finance Company, a private company, then under ...

as part of a fifty-year

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Adminis ...

with the Ministry of Water, Forest, Hunting and Fishing.

African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyca ...

s have been documented in the south of the CAR in the Chinko/

Mbari The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California. MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, and is primarily funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation ...

drainage basin in 2013.

History

Around 1800 Kassanga, a Bandia leader, founded a kingdom in the Shinko valley, later called the Rafai kingdom. Kassanga was the great-grandfather of Sultan Rafai. The Belgian officer Charles Kéthule de Ryove (1865–1903) was assigned to the Upper Uele expedition in August 1891. In March 1892 he explored the region between the Mbomou and Shinko rivers. He met Sultan Rafai, who declared his allegiance to the Congo Free State. Kéthule de Ryove was resident at Rafai's court from 1892 to 1894. He wrote in an 1895 article ''Le sultanat de Rafaï'' (''Le Congo illustré'') that almost all the inhabitants could speak Arabic, including the sultan, chiefs and soldiers. In 1894 the Belgian Léon Hanolet ascended the Mbari River, another tributary of the Bomu, while Théodore Nilis ascended the Chinko River.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Rivers of the Central African Republic